A well-prepared lasagna is non-partisan. It nourishes, but does not prescribe. So does art that endures. The picture's occasionally redundant exchanges neglect the visual medium's potential, which, in best circumstances, renders horse riding about non-standard calculus more effective than talking about it.
Even though no one has ever said "can't sing; can't act; balding; can dance a little" about Fred Astaire, the myth is perpetuated on-line. That the Internet functions at all is a miracle commensurate with a functional democracy's functioning, which is brought about by loners, whose condition is an outcome, not a cause, of their brilliance.
27 March 2011
7 March 2011
The Diary of a Madman
(BAM, 5 March 2011)
Aspirations differ across individuals. Therefore, one should refrain from imposing one's preferences on others---individually or as a society. Doing so is easy in most cases. One exception is the diagnosis of insanity, which can potentially lead to extreme censorship, second only to murder and torture. (Bringing up a child amounts to guessing his preferences, not suppressing them.) The utmost respect for the freedoms of thus diagnosed helps avoid the slippery slope (mistaken judgements and abuse) that can promote tyranny and that is also the main argument against capital punishment and torture.
A freedom much conducive to sanity is the control over one's position in the social hierarchy. This freedom is best served in the society in which one's position is least dependent on the accident of birth. Hierarchies are indispensable for satisfactory governance. Their multiplicity can help an individual experience being at the top of the hierarchy that that he deems to be most important.
In the Received Pronunciation, the Australian Geoffrey Rush delivers the lines of the character who is as Russian as the Ukrainian Nikolai Gogol intended him to be. Rush's portrayal of Aksentii Poprishchin is playful, but not grotesque. By not having subordinated the character study to a political slogan, the adaptation will have reached timelessness. It is hard to disentangle the contribution of the director, Neil Armfield, from that of the rest of the team. At the least, Armfield can be credited for having led the team that has engineered the product whose components one is afraid to take apart for the fear that their collective brilliance would be compromised.
Aspirations differ across individuals. Therefore, one should refrain from imposing one's preferences on others---individually or as a society. Doing so is easy in most cases. One exception is the diagnosis of insanity, which can potentially lead to extreme censorship, second only to murder and torture. (Bringing up a child amounts to guessing his preferences, not suppressing them.) The utmost respect for the freedoms of thus diagnosed helps avoid the slippery slope (mistaken judgements and abuse) that can promote tyranny and that is also the main argument against capital punishment and torture.
A freedom much conducive to sanity is the control over one's position in the social hierarchy. This freedom is best served in the society in which one's position is least dependent on the accident of birth. Hierarchies are indispensable for satisfactory governance. Their multiplicity can help an individual experience being at the top of the hierarchy that that he deems to be most important.
In the Received Pronunciation, the Australian Geoffrey Rush delivers the lines of the character who is as Russian as the Ukrainian Nikolai Gogol intended him to be. Rush's portrayal of Aksentii Poprishchin is playful, but not grotesque. By not having subordinated the character study to a political slogan, the adaptation will have reached timelessness. It is hard to disentangle the contribution of the director, Neil Armfield, from that of the rest of the team. At the least, Armfield can be credited for having led the team that has engineered the product whose components one is afraid to take apart for the fear that their collective brilliance would be compromised.
"Speaking in Tongues" and "Esplanade" by Paul Taylor
(City Center, 4 March 2011)
Appreciation of beauty comes naturally. By contrast, creation of beauty is either outside one's control or requires hard work. (A perfect sphere is easy to appreciate, but hard to build.) A feature associated with an infrequently encountered desirable quality is perceived as beautiful. That quality is often inborn, in which case the appreciation of beauty amounts to the appreciation of a superior endowment. By exercising effort, one can deceive others into a more favourable assessment of one's endowment. Glamourising beauty runs the risk of fetishising endowment at the expense of achievement.
The limited vocabulary of the classical ballet makes it easy to turn it into a fetish. The modern ballet celebrates achievement over endowment by seeking beauty in dancers' humanity (fallibility, diversity, aspiration), not in an external ideal modelled on a bird or a dragon. The modern ballet admits multiple tongues and a narrative more substantial than an excuse for wearing revealing clothes.
"Speaking in Tongues" is concerned with injustice. When one sees individual misery (in art, signalled by ugliness), one can often contrive a story justifying that misery as a means for assuring a satisfactory outcome for the society. Such a story shall not excuse misery. No law of nature assures that institutions evolve to select the best means for attaining a certain goal, even if one were to accept the goal favoured by evolution.
Those ideas are most prevalent that are most infectious, not those that are best for humanity. Interpreting an idea's prevalence as its merit amounts to attending to the well-being of ideas, not individuals.
"Esplanade" administers beauty. Beauty does not blind. Pornography does. Beauty soothes. Its soothing quality makes it hard to overlook in deprivation. Perceived ugliness often reflects a prejudice, in which case ugliness is harmless. What is harmful is the long-term deprivation from beauty.
"Esplanade" is more aesthetically pleasing than "Speaking in Tongues." A dance excels when its protagonist transcends the sum of the individual dancers' characters. This effect is easiest to achieve when choreographing couples, who are the focus of "Esplanade."
Appreciation of beauty comes naturally. By contrast, creation of beauty is either outside one's control or requires hard work. (A perfect sphere is easy to appreciate, but hard to build.) A feature associated with an infrequently encountered desirable quality is perceived as beautiful. That quality is often inborn, in which case the appreciation of beauty amounts to the appreciation of a superior endowment. By exercising effort, one can deceive others into a more favourable assessment of one's endowment. Glamourising beauty runs the risk of fetishising endowment at the expense of achievement.
The limited vocabulary of the classical ballet makes it easy to turn it into a fetish. The modern ballet celebrates achievement over endowment by seeking beauty in dancers' humanity (fallibility, diversity, aspiration), not in an external ideal modelled on a bird or a dragon. The modern ballet admits multiple tongues and a narrative more substantial than an excuse for wearing revealing clothes.
"Speaking in Tongues" is concerned with injustice. When one sees individual misery (in art, signalled by ugliness), one can often contrive a story justifying that misery as a means for assuring a satisfactory outcome for the society. Such a story shall not excuse misery. No law of nature assures that institutions evolve to select the best means for attaining a certain goal, even if one were to accept the goal favoured by evolution.
Those ideas are most prevalent that are most infectious, not those that are best for humanity. Interpreting an idea's prevalence as its merit amounts to attending to the well-being of ideas, not individuals.
"Esplanade" administers beauty. Beauty does not blind. Pornography does. Beauty soothes. Its soothing quality makes it hard to overlook in deprivation. Perceived ugliness often reflects a prejudice, in which case ugliness is harmless. What is harmful is the long-term deprivation from beauty.
"Esplanade" is more aesthetically pleasing than "Speaking in Tongues." A dance excels when its protagonist transcends the sum of the individual dancers' characters. This effect is easiest to achieve when choreographing couples, who are the focus of "Esplanade."
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